EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Biomed Databases Which Database?

Good luck with your "home grown" system. At least that way your people remain in control, can make any changes you need making, and are not stung with seemingly endless demands for payment for one thing or another. And ... they won't, a few years down the line, be hit with the "we no longer support this version" message!

Not to mention:- what happens if the software company goes broke, gets bought by someone else, and all the rest!

Now that IT seems to be taking over every hospital in the world (OK, I'm exaggerating a little there), why not let them impress us all with their coding skills. Isn't that why they're paid so much?

Get IT to develop (or otherwise provide) a system to meet the biomed's needs, leaving the biomeds to get on with fixing the kit!

When looking at any database I would recommend looking at its report generation capabilties. We all know how the accountant breeds like reports on every combination of data and lets be honest, perfomance measurement metrics and the like are important too.

Yes, that's good advice. It would seem that many people are dazzled by attractive "front ends" (and, just to be clear, I'm still talking about databases here), initially at least ... only to suffer frustration and er, disappointment later on (once the "novelty has worn off", as it were) when they find it cannot churn out the reports required!

Yet another valid reason, I feel (as if one were needed), why simply sticking with a database management software package, and developing your own system, has such merit. That is, you can then set it up to produce any report you need. Try doing that with the "industry standard" systems (although, to be fair, some are quite good in this respect).

And who knows what reports "they" will be demanding tomorrow!

If nothing else, it's nice to be able to export data to the ubiquitous MS Excel ... then you (and the bean counters) can do whatever you want with it!

Home grown is the best, but after at least 8 years??? Could have done with something else in between instead of the "broken maintenance manager" that we have been struggling with up till now

I can't answer that one, Mate. Sounds like a local management problem to me.

Other than ... "if it was me" I wouldn't have waited eight weeks, let alone eight years! No doubt I would have done what I have always done (and heartily commend to others) ... that is, got on and sorted something out for myself!

Haven't just waited, copied files to excel, access and made do from there, main problem is that IT controls ALL the computers in the hospital. At least we have records to upload "once" we go live. Really pushed for Fluke software to integrate with the test equipment, but could not get the funding

Yes, the Fluke option would have been the one to go for there, I reckon. The "paperless system" is the one to aim for ultimately, I would say. Pity you couldn't have done some sort of deal with them when buying test equipment.

Is the software that expensive (especially when compared with the test kit itself)? Or, put another way, why have all that nice test equipment if full use is not made of its capabilities (downloading data, and all the rest)? I'm preaching to the converted here, I guess, Neil.

Again, dare I suggest that it sounds like there's a bit of a "management problem" where you are, Mate.

The software from Fluke is quite expensive, and yes we all know where the problems really lies.

Meanwhile, here's another one that's just been passed to me (from another forum). I've not tried it (no time today), but I'm linking to it here just to share the info., as it were.

If anyone has a go, it would be nice to hear about what your impressions are (were).

And, while I'm on ... here is CWorks.

Lastly ... I don't recall HEMS getting a mention on here before. They have a UK distributor (but not for free, of course)!

@Neil: notice that HEMS is talking about about interfacing with Fluke (test equipment) and the ECRI UMDNS. OK, that's me done ... need to be carrying on with my own stuff now!

Now we are phasing out the Biotek (Fluke) and going with Rigel.